For the first time in 236 games, Nick Castellanos is not in the starting lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. It is not because of injury and it is not because of a slump. It is because he is being benched, and punished, for making an inappropriate comment toward manager Rob Thomson on Monday night.
The comment came after Castellanos was removed from the team’s 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins for defensive purposes.
Castellanos said on Tuesday, via The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes, that he was unhappy with Thomson’s decision to remove him from the game. When asked about the decision to bench him, ending his consecutive games streak, Castellanos simply said “it’s his decision. He’s the manager.”
If the Phillies are not careful, and unless cooler heads can prevail here, this has the potential to become a problematic situation.
For one, Thomson isn’t entirely in the wrong to remove Castellanos late in a game — especially a close game — for defensive purposes. While Castellanos is a good hitter, he has major shortcomings in the field where he is — statistically speaking — one of the worst defensive outfielders in the league.
It’s probably a decision that should get made more frequently. He is so bad defensively that it almost negates a significant portion of what he can do with a bat in his hands.
Despite having an OPS+ of 105 (100 is considered a league-average hitter) he has a negative WAR (wins above replacement) this season due entirely to his defense. In other words — he is actually costing the Phillies games this season.
The other potential issue is that Castellanos either said something horrifically bad to result in his modest ironman streak being ended, or it was a continued source of frustration between the two sides.
Professional sports are an intense and emotional industry. It is not uncommon for players and coaches to disagree with each other, argue, fight or get angry. It does not always immediately escalate to a benching.
At the end of the day Thomson’s job is to put the best possible team on the field. In a competitive National League East every game is going to count as the Phillies try to win the division, and they can not risk losing games due to bad defense. Castellanos needs to either find a way to become a better defensive player (not likely at this point of his career), or understand situations like Monday might be happening more frequently, especially if his bat is only marginally above average.
If he cannot do either, the Phillies might need to look elsewhere for outfield help.